Site-specific browsers (SSB) have made a bit of a stir recently due to programs like Fluid and Prism. These tools customize a very thin layer over a browser to provide something that looks a like a standard desktop application, complete with a nice icon and entry in the dock or start menu.
SSBs can be used for a variety of sites, but I find they are particularly useful for social networking (Yammer, Twitter etc) and project management sites (Unfuddle, Basecamp etc). This is because these sites tend to present themeselves as applications, with virtually no dependancy on the standard browser buttons.
Some of these sites may actually may break, or do things you weren't expecting if you use the back button. By not having the browser bars and buttons you get around this issue completely. So it is great for those PHB's that don't seem to quite grasp some of the more advanced web applications out there.
Doing it in Chrome
I noticed the other day a little menu item in Chrome 3 titled "Create application shortcuts", which intrigued me enough to click on it.
This presented me with a little dialog to select where I wanted to create the shortcut.
After you select your choice, the appropiate shortcut will be created. You can then start this like any other application by clicking on the icon. This launches a trimmed down version of Chrome with the icon taken from the site so it is easily identifiable in the task bar.
You can use this feature to create several shortcuts to your most used sites and applications, rather than fireing up Chrome and entering in the url. And because of Chromes sandbox model you can rest assured that website that occassional runs away (ahem Greenhopper) it is much easier to kill the culprit.
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